Scotland will meddle as Supreme Court sets date for Brexit showdown over triggering of Article 50

Scottish Government's intervention is the latest stumbling block the First Minister is trying to put in the way of Britain leaving the European Union

By ROBERT FISK

8th November 2016, 4:01 pm

Updated: 8th November 2016, 4:16 pm

The Government has been given permission by the Supreme Court to appeal against a High Court ruling that the Prime Minister must seek MPs' approval to trigger the process of taking Britain out of the European Union.

The challenge will start on December 5 and is expected to last four days.

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says the consent of the Scottish Parliament should be sought before Article 50 is triggered

The case will be heard by all 11 Supreme Court justices.
At the completion of legal submissions, the justices will reserve their decision to a date "probably in the New Year".

Earlier today Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced her government is trying to meddle in the British Government's bid to overturn a legal ruling which made clear that MPs must approve the formal triggering of Brexit.

The country's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said it will do this because it wants the Scottish Parliament to have its say about when Britain leaves the European Union.

The Lord Advocate, Scotland's most senior law officer, is to lodge a formal application at the Supreme Court to intervene in the case.

Ms Sturgeon said it "simply cannot be right" that rights linked to membership of the European Union "can be removed by the UK Government on the say-so of a Prime Minister without parliamentary debate, scrutiny or consent".

The First Minister added: "So legislation should be required at Westminster and the consent of the Scottish Parliament should be sought before Article 50 is triggered."

Her announcement comes after she told an audience at the University of Sheffield that the Scottish Government would do everything it could to influence the British Government's approach to Brexit.

During her trade visit to India Theresa May has told Remoaners to stop fighting the EU campaign

Last Thursday's bombshell decision in the High Court that MPs must approve the triggering of Brexit sparked a constitutional crisis and angered not just those who voted leave by defying the Prime Minister.

The PM had wanted to in­voke Article 50, starting the formal two-year Brexit process, without go­ing to Parliament for a vote saying instead she could use the royal prerogative in her Brexit strategy.

Government lawyers had argued that prerogative powers were a legitimate way to give effect "to the will of the people" who voted by a clear majority to leave the European Union in the June referendum.

Lord Thomas declared: "The Government does not have power under the Crown's prerogative to give notice pursuant to Article 50 for the UK to withdraw from the European Union."
The Lord Chief Justice - sitting with the Master of the Rolls, Sir Terence Etherton, and Lord Justice Sales - emphasised to a packed court that he was deciding "a pure question of law".
He added: "The court is not concerned with and does not express any view about the merits of leaving the European Union: that is a political issue."

The dra­matic High Court decision threatened to trigger a must-win vote for Mrs May of MPs in the Commons on whether Article 50 should be invoked.

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But Downing Street played down suggestions that the PM could call a snap general election next year to ensure she has enough supportive MPs to get her plan through the House.

There was fury that Brexit, voted for by 17million Brits, could be betrayed by the tiny group of Remainers.

The outfit, backed by law firm Mishcon de Reya, also includes Brazilian-born hairdres­ser Deir Dos Santos.

Others are expat Brit Gra­h­ame Pigney — based in southern France — and Welsh-Italian environmental cons­ultant Christopher Formaggia, who tweeted after the decision: “Victory against the fascist May Government.”

Mrs Miller, 51, who set up her own financial investment firm with 52-year-old husband Alan, said outside the High Court that the ruling was “about our United Kingdom and all our futures”.

The Remainers raised £170,000 online to launch the appeal to block the triggering of Article 50.

He said even if he disagreed with elements of the High Court decision, the three judges were "brilliant, thoughtful, wise and decent men".

This is the latest stumbling block that Sturgeon is trying to put in the way of Brexit, with her trying to get a second Scottish independence referendum in protest at the bombshell Brexit vote and Scotland being dragged out of the EU against the country's will.